I Paesaggi geografici come opportunità per un turismo alternativo: l'esempio della Gallura costiera nord-orientale (Sardegna)

L'attrattività turistica della regione Sardegna risiede in buona parte nel fascino dei suoi paesaggi: nell'incessante varietà delle formazioni litologiche e delle forme del rilievo, nelle diverse modalità di adattamento dell'uomo al suo territorio e, più in generale, nei molteplici caratteri dei paesaggi culturali, intesi come sintesi sensibile del perenne intreccio tra dinamiche naturali e attività dell'uomo. Il presente intervento esamina i paesaggi geografici della Gallura: i fattori di attrazione e l'immagine costiera nord-orientale come "ricca eredità da ri-conoscere e valorizzare", il territorio costiero nord-orientale, geologia e geomorfologia, fattori storici, toponomastica, insediamento umano ed evoluzione del territorio

Lithological and structural control on Italian mountain geoheritage: opportunities for tourism, outdoor and educational activities

Mountain landscapes are generated by the interplay of endogenous and exogenous processes, whose reciprocal importance changes over times. The Italian relief reflects a high geomorphodiversity and an overview on iconic mountain landscapes, representative of the lithological-structural diversity of the Italian relief, is presented. The study cases, located along Alps and Apennines and in the Sardinia island, are exemplary for the comprehension of the role of the substratum in shaping mountain landscapes and of the deriving risk scenario. Moreover, mountain landscapes are characterized by a high potential for use in terms of: i) ideal open-air natural laboratories for multidisciplinary educational purposes including geological-geomorphological, historical and ecological topics; ii) possibility of specific outdoor activities that take advantage of outdoor sports (e.g., climbing, canyoning, speleology). These feasible and versatile opportunities favour the enhancement of such environments under different perspectives as well as the involvement of local communities and the socio-economic return deriving from mountain geoheritage management

Assessing geomorphosites used for rock climbing: the example of Monteleone Roccadoria (Sardinia, Italy)

Within the framework of geomorphosite assessment with reference to tourism potential, a new field of research has opened up focusing on sites used for outdoor activities, like free climbing. This line of research in particular focuses on the suitability of geological and geomorphological characteristics of a specific site for a particular sport. Concentrating on geomorphological hazard, rock quality, tourism capacity and site vulnerability, a method of assessment was designed and tested on a number of important Italian climbing sites. Using the results of the Monteleone Rocca Doria (Sardinia, Italy), the article presents the proposed approach of assessment. Although the site in question is recognised for its «scientific», «aesthetic» and «cultural value», it has drawn attention for its attractiveness for rock climbers in particular. Thus, the aim of the assessment was to support management of the site by proposing options for utilisation that are sensitive to both the needs of the climbers and the environment in which the site is embedded. In particular, attention was given to potential geomorphologically-related risks for climbers, the impacts linked to human presence and the specific characteristics of the geomorphosite

Alla scoperta dei tesori geologici della Sardegna: Cala Domestica (Sardegna sud-occidentale)

Cala Domestica, una delle più suggestive insenature del Sud Sardegna, è situata lungo la costa sud-occidentale della Sardegna, al limite tra i comuni di Iglesias e Buggerru, nella nuova Provincia di Carbonia Iglesias. L’insenatura, racchiusa tra promontori rocciosi calcareodolomitici che recano alla base nei fori di litodomi e nei depositi di spiaggia le tracce del sollevamento marino del Tirreniano, si apre verso l’interno a formare due distinte spiagge sabbiose incastonate tra pareti scoscese brune o bruno-rossastre. Alla spiaggia più ampia, che si affaccia su un mare di un intenso colore turchese o cobalto, si giunge a piedi seguendo un breve sentiero che si snoda tra morbide dune “da ostacolo” adagiate alla base dei versanti. Invece, a quella più piccola si accede attraverso un tunnel scavato nella roccia, che ne svela improvvisamente il colore verde smeraldo dell’acqua, in contrasto con le sabbie bianche e il verde variegato della macchia mediterranea

Lithological and Structural Control on Italian Mountain Geoheritage: Opportunities for Tourism, Outdoor and Educational Activities

Mountain landscapes are generated by the interplay of endogenous and exogenous processes, whose reciprocal importance changes over times. The Italian relief reflects a high geomorphodiversity and an overview on iconic mountain landscapes, representative of the lithological-structural diversity of the Italian relief, is presented. The study cases, located along Alps and Apennines and in the Sardinia island, are exemplary for the comprehension of the role of the substratum in shaping mountain landscapes and of the deriving risk scenario. Moreover, mountain landscapes are characterized by a high potential for use in terms of: i) ideal open-air natural laboratories for multidisciplinary educational purposes including geological-geomorphological, historical and ecological topics; ii) possibility of specific outdoor activities that take advantage of outdoor sports (e.g., climbing, canyoning, speleology). These feasible and versatile opportunities favour the enhancement of such environments under different perspectives as well as the involvement of local communities and the socio-economic return deriving from mountain geoheritage management

The Coastal Dunes of Sardinia: Landscape: Response to Climate and Sea Level Changes

The Sardinian coasts are characterized by spectacular aeolian landscapes. These are concentrated in areas where the morphology of the coast, the age-long wind action on the wide sandy beaches and the past availability of sand from the continental shelf—during the low sea level during Pleistocene glacial phases—permitted remarkable volumes of sands to accumulate and to dominate above other forms of the coastal landscape. In the western coast of the island, hit by strong northwestern winds, vast dune fields, adorned by the Mediterranean bush and white flowers of sea, show a spectacular variety of landforms such as small nebkhas, loose dunes, cobblestone floors and deflation furrows. Lithified fossil dunes (aeolianites) occur along most Sardinian coasts, providing important information on past climate and sea level changes. These attractive wind landscapes offer researchers and visitors many and various opportunities of study, recreation and tourism, in a context unique due to the high value of the present and past landscapes

Geotourist itineraries along the Italian territory: examples of mapping the geoheritage in different geomorphological and historical contexts

In the framework of the studies dealing with geomorphosites mapping, many researches were carried out in the last years presenting both applied examples and proposals for tourist fruition. Researchers had to face many different challenges in transferring the knowledge about the geomorphological heritage on maps. The most relevant are those concerning the use of maps for tourist promotion, taking into account the requirements of clearness of representation of landforms and also the need of pointing out possible geomorphological hazards along tourist paths. Within the activity of the Working Group “Geomorphosites and Cultural Landscape” of AIGeo (Italian Association of Physical Geography and Geomorphology), some Italian itineraries, focused on the promotion of the geomorphological heritage by means of geotourist maps, are presented. They have the goal of: promoting landscape through its geomorphological and geological heritage; disseminating geoheritage knowledge focusing its relationships with cultural landscape and human history; assessing geomorphological hazards and possible risk situations The proposed itineraries are localised in different Italian regions and they concern: - the area around the remains of the Roman town of Ostra. The town is placed on the left side of the Misa River (Marche region, Italy), atop a stream terrace dating back to the uppermost Pleistocene-early Holocene. Detailed geomorphological field and remote-sensing mapping started in 2015. The surveying is aimed at focusing the geomorphological evolution as well as at assessing possible geomorphological hazard for both conservation and exploitation scopes. A geotourist trail is proposed with the aim of highlighting and integrating geomorphological and archaeological elements and information. - a geotourist trail along the coastal terraced slopes of Cinque Terre (Liguria, NW Italy): worldwide considered as one of the most outstanding examples of human integration with the natural landscape within the Mediterranean region. The Cinque Terre are has been recognized since 1997 as aWorld Heritage Site by UNESCO and are currently affected by high geomorphological risk. - the territory of the town of Bosa, north-western Sardinia (Italy). From a geological point of view the area is characterized by the outcropping of the Oligo-Miocene volcanic sequence related to the rotational tectonic. The geomorphological survey allowed the reconstruction of the Quaternary evolution and the assessment of the geomorphological heritage. The itinerary proposed wants to promote, by means of a geo-tourist map, the geomorphological heritage in its relationship with the rich cultural context and give all information for a correct and conscious fruition of the landscape. - the vacant railway tract Avellino-Rocchetta S. Antonio (Campania region, Italy): an inland area of the southern Italian Apennine. Here the great diversity of landforms give rise to a rich variety of landscapes, strictly linked with the long archaeological and cultural history, protected, in part, by the institution of regional Parks and other kind of protected areas. - abandoned or deactivated old mines in the Eastern Italian Alps, in order to promote their recovery for tourist or didactic purposes. The aim of the proposed itinerary is to organize its specific fruition as well as the preservation of their environmental and historic heritage

Evoluzione geomorfologica della piana del Coghinas (Sardegna settentrionale, Italia)

The Coghinas plain is a alluvial plain in a half-graben structure where three different zone are morphologically divided. On the basis of the criteria followed in this investigation, the climatic data, the comparison between historical maps (since the 1841), the fluvial evolution suggest a discontinue and disuniform sedimentation relatif to the inner plain. From a morphological point of view, the three different zones have allowed to obtain a possible morphological reconstruction during the Pleistocene on the basis of the different processes and paleoclimatic stages for each zone. The analysis of the water table aquifer during 18 months (salinity and conductive capacity) have demonstrated the geometries of the salt water intrusion in two different bodies explained such the paleochannels of the Coghinas river.In questa nota sono sono esposti i risultati di une ricerca dedicata all'interpretazione morfoevolutiva della pianura costiera del Coghinas ed alle relazioni tra le condizioni pluviometriche del bacino e la dinamica fluviale recente, anche dal confronto della cartografia storica esistente. La genesi della piana a half-graben, la sua particolare evoluzione morfologica ed i processi morfogenetici riconosciutti nell'area hanno permesso di identificare tre distinte zone, caratterizzate da forme, processi e dinamica differenti, che evidenziano le interpretazioni paleoclimatiche. I risultati analitici della acque di falda hanno inoltre permesso di identificare due paleoalvei del fiume Coghinas che fungono da canali di richiamo per le acque marine nel corso della fluttuazione della falda

A comprehensive assessment of geomorphosites in relation to both natural hazards and tourist fruition and activities

In the framework of the relationships between geomorphological heritage and natural hazards, the studies carried on by the members of the AIGeo Working Group on \u201cGeomorphosites and cultural landscape\u201d, focuses mainly on monitoring evolution rates of active geomorphosites in different morphoclimatic contexts, in order to evaluate risk scenarios in the context of tourism, and on the analysis of climate trends and quantification of rates of climate-related processes in areas of scientific and landscape interest. These lines of research are fundamental for forecasting evolutionary scenarios, especially regarding hazards and impacts on natural and cultural assets. There has been a growing interest in the mutability of geomorphological heritage (e.g. geomorphosites), as a consequence of both natural-climate and human pressure. Recent research has allowed inventories to be made for evaluating and analyzing geomorphosites not only in term of their geoheritage value but also for providing information on geohazards related to the intensity and frequency variation of climate-related superficial processes. Within the framework of a comprehensive assessment of geomorphosites in relation both to natural morphodynamics and tourist fruition and activities, some main lines of research are developed: \u2022 Assessment of natural hazard in tourist context interested by geomorphological active processes. The increasing interest in the natural environment has lead a growing presence of man in areas of active morphodynamics, thus increasing possible risk situations. Understanding the natural phenomena, also related to climate variability, and the potential consequences on tourist activities, is necessary for preventing risk situations. \u2022 Investigations on active geomorphosites (sensu Reynard, 2004), interested by natural dynamic and climate-related processes that are able to induce changes in terms of hazards, impacts and global value. The problem of dealing with active geomorphosites is twofold: a) changes in geomorphological processes may directly influence the value of sites of geomorphological interest; b) active geomorphological processes may represent natural hazards and be a source of risk where tourist trails and activities are present. \u2022 Contributions to the studies of interconnections between geomorphology and tourism in areas where natural processes and untouched environment are prevailing. Here possible risks are related to the environmental dynamics and the activities themselves. Researches on assessment of the natural risk for \u201cextreme\u201d sports like climbing or canyoning, are carried on, concerning dynamic processes, geotechnical conditions, and so on. \u2022 Creation of geotourist maps to guide hikers through the most spectacular geomorphosites and to help tourists to better understand what they are looking at, using a simplified symbology, modified in order to highlight the landforms, which are then described with an easy scientific language. This kind of map will emphasize only the landscape elements that the tourist can recognize and observe as well as the possible hazards that could interfere with the hiking paths. A mapping campaign directed to identify and outline all geomorphological forms and processes, assessing their genesis and their state of activity: this represents the core for all further analyses and representations, functional to different purposes. \u2022 Planning activities for sustainable management of risks related to the increasing interaction between geomorphological dynamics and human activities have their best test sites within Natural Parks. Here, risk monitoring and management activities can been performed by researchers in collaboration with territorial administration and environmental management institutions. As a first step, main hazards sectors have to be individualized along preferred alpinist routes and/or hiking tracks. For the field surveys, geomorphological maps can be coupled with digital track network. Visual monitoring of the unstable sectors is then developed by means of digital instrumentation, in collaboration with Park rangers. Finally, results on the hazards and risks studies can be used as teaching material for Park rangers and be popularized for the general public. Valorization of technical and scientific data associated with the study of geomorphosites is crucial for enhancing geoconservation and dissemination of Earth Sciences contents. Development of innovative educational strategies within areas of high geoheritage value, can support the dissemination of scientific research results on geomorphosites and their response to climate change, favouring an easy understanding and comprehension of the landscape and of its hazards. By defining risk as the consequences of a particular phenomenon of geomorphological instability on a particular human, social, economic condition of vulnerability, we envisage the role of scientific knowledge also in the management of natural hazards in touristic areas